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Medical Alley startups achieve ‘relatively normal’ funding despite pandemic

Medical Alley Association member startups pulled in more than $256 million in funding through June, signaling a “relatively normal” first half of the year 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic and battered economy, according to the Minnesota-based trade group.

In total, 40 companies raised $256,406,357 in the first 6 months of the year. The $1.75 million median raise falls behind last year’s record $1.99 million as the second highest median raise for a first half in the last 5 years, indicative of a class of companies that took earlier-stage rounds in previous years and have successfully grown and matured.

Get the full story on our sister site, Medical Design & Outsourcing.

Mayo Clinic launches test to detect COVID-19 immunity

Mayo Clinic announced that it launched a new SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody test in support of efforts to establish therapies and vaccines for COVID-19.

As part of the Expanded Access Program for Convalescent Plasma and other critical research efforts, Mayo Clinic intends to make the test available to select labs, blood banks and biopharma clients later this month.

Mayo Clinic designed the new test to measure the level of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19. The test provides semi-quantitative detection of total neutralizing antibodies in human serum. After infection, most will develop an immune response to COVID-19, including the production of neutralizing antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein. However, it’s currently unknown for how long the neutralizing antibodies persist after infection.

The test should only be ordered upon confirmation of prior infection and it should not be used to diagnose …